A sound sculpture/installation peice exploring the physical parameters of human hearing and the role of an ‘active listener’ in creating psycho-acoutic patterns and shadings within a totally static sound field.

This piece works with the way sounds interact in space, through the physical channels of the body and through socialised/learnt patterns of listening.

The keyboards used have their keys held down with elastic bands and tape creating a complex hum. The notes/pitches from the keyboard are generated by altering the speed at which a stored waveform is played. Within the hum there will be a number of waves oscillating at different speeds and interacting with each other creating pitches not originally present.

An ‘active’ listener would be able to repeatedly shift focus and dissect the sound much as one can filter out someone’s voice in a crowd. However as the sounds continue to interact and the listener shifts focus (either physically moves or refocuses mentally) one can hear a number of dynamically shifting patterns rather than static notes or waves.

The brain also tries very hard to impose rhythms and patterns on the data it is receiving which is how we can understand language and recognise certain sounds, how we can filter out one voice from many, and how we can judge the size of a room or a distance by the sounds in the environment around us. The expectations and learned patterns of the listener, by effecting the processing of sensory information, create a completely interactive work which would be different for all listeners.

Posted via email from spiralblast’s posterous | Comment »